Electrical generator system



Sept. 25, 1934. B HQRNBY 1,974,990

ELECTRICAL GENERATOR SYSTEM Filed May 13, 1932 Fig.2.

UMSA mm 7250 8mm rm I Z UNSA TURA r50 Inventor: Fred B. Hornby,

' H is Attorney.

Patented Sept. 25, 1934 UN IIED? STATES.

RAIENII. OFFICE ELECTRICAL GENERATOR"SYSTEM FrediBrfiornby Lynnfliiass assignor torGeneral Electric... Company, a corporation of New" York.

My inventionrelatsstc electricalgenerator Y5. tems. and. more particularly. to .dynamo. electric. generators which ..are -adapted to .be .rotated in. reverse directions and .at yari'able speed;

There are numerouslocationswhere a moderate amount of electrical. energy, is required but where. the-only convenientsource of rotation Iondriving a generator .is .eith'en reversible in. direction, .01. widely variable in. speed. ,or. both. Aitypical. exs 1o ample. of the latter is railway, rolling ,stock, ,ior

which .the .source .of. energy, is .usually an. axle. driven generaton. Passenger. cars require ..a reliable source. of .lconstantjpotential electrical energy for lighting. purposes whetherthey ,are stand 15. ingormovingand such cars are ,usuallyprovided with relatively, complicatedelectrical .systems -,in=- cludlng storage. batteries.-and.;generator voltage regulators.. Certain types .01. Z freight ,cars also require electrical energy. An example isrefrigerator cars .which. areprovided. with electrical refrigerators,.,or which. areprovided with motor. operated. .fans .or .blowers to circulatethe air' in the cars. In the. case. .01 freight cars: great reliability and. freedom .irom. inspection and-repa r: of the electrical equipment'are necessaryr Reversibility .oithe source ,QLrotatioKIOr-driv-r a generator introduces certain operating probllems. Thus, an ordinary self excited generator wilLnot buildjup voltage when its direction-of rotation. is reversed because reversal ot:rotati'onreverses the polarity, of :the voltage-producedfby residuaLmagnetism and this reversallof .polarity; acts to b'uckjth'e residual magnetism-tozero; thereby preventing voltage; build upr. Furthermore; even .if the. voltage should.build up-it'*would'=ba with reverse. polarity, which if storage batteries were-to be charged,'wouldbe'highiyundesirable:

A number or ways for -insuringbuildupwith reversible rotation, regardlesspi polarity, and also constant polarity build up; are known; but'they all, require auxiliary apparatus: suclrxas *polarity responsive reversing. switches or-irictlon' operated brush shifting yokes; whicharc-subject to-derangement, which-are.relatively-delicate and-complicated in construction;' and..which' rcquire rela tivelymore frequent attentionthan doesthe generating equipment itself.

In accordance'withan important feature or my invention, Lprovide .a simple arrangement-tor providing, what maybe termed,'sel1=exclted build up of reversibly. drivengenerators, WhiCh'..lS as rugged as. the. generating equipment itselt. Broadlyspeaking, I accomplish this result .by the use of. two generators. each .oLJwhich .acts. as an exciter for the other. In addition, by insurin that.;one.g.enerator has .a stronger residual mag netis'mthan the .other, the polarityof build upof. the senerator .witlith'e weaker residual magnetism wilI...be the -same regardless oljits direction of; rotation.

Variationsdn. generator. speed usually. produce variations..in. generator voltage, In many systems,.such as. systems having incandescent lamps. or-storage..batteries, substantially constant volt-.- age .is required. Rurth'ermorei in anysystem in which the range .of generatorspeedis the same as the range .of railwayrolling stock speed, the varia: tion in..voltage or. an unregulated axle driven generator would .be .sogreat ascto ,prevent satis: factory, operation .01. almost type ofj load 7 device. 1

In acccrdancewith anothemieature or 11min: ventionl provide an.inher.ently regulated. system consisting ofgenerator buildup combination and aJoad, suchasa motorior operating a fan 1n.a.refrigex ator .car.

Anobjector .my invention.is..to providea new. and improvedrgenerator. system.

Motherobject .or my; invention is. .toprovicle a. new/and. improved. arrangement. for. insuring, voltage build up oi reversiblydriven generators.

AIurth'er object or myjinventionis to provide. adnew. and .improved. arrangement for insuring, constant .polarity, buildup oireversibly driven direct current generators.

Anaddedobiect lot .mydnvention .is .to provide a.new.. and .improved. inherently, regulated. electrlcalsystein inwhichthegenerating equipment isadaptedto behperated at widelyyaryingspeeds andiinreverse directions.

Niv'inventionvwill be. better understood .Irom the iollowing description taken in connection with thaancompanyinadrawing. and its scope will be pointedput .in .the appended. claim..

In.the drawing,1F"g, 1 illustrates diagrammaticallgmxgenerator system Ior providing constant polaritxbuild .up,.regardless of. the. direction .01 rotation ot'the svstem...F g. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration. of; an. inherently regulated system including the.generator,system in Fig-.1, while 1 13s.. 3. isaipartillustration or a modification or F12 2 Referring now to Fig, 1 ot'the drawing, it will be..seen. that .Ihave provided. two generators 1 and 2, respectively. These generators may be driven in any, suitable manner, and as shown they are mounted on an axle, or shaft, 3 whichis connected to b'e drivenby a car wheel .4. Generators 1 and.2 areprovidsd with field windings 5 and..6, respectively, andthese windingsare so connected that each generator acts as an exciter for the other generator. Thus field winding 5, of generator 1, is connected to be energized by generator 2, while field winding 6 of generator 2 is connected to be energized by generator 1. A load circuit 7 is connected to be energized by generator l. The operation of the above described arrangement for giving constant polarity voltage build up of generator 1, regardless of the direction of rotation of this generator 1, will now be described.

In order to secure this operation it is necessary that generator 2 have a stronger residual magnetism than generator 1. This may be accomplished in a number of ways. For example, if generator 2 is constructed as an ordinary exciter while generator 1 is constructed as an ordinary direct current generator, the usual short air gap which is provided in the exciter will be sufficient to give generator 2 a relativelystronger residual magnetism than generator 1. However, in practice generator 2 could be provided with steelfield poles, or with field poles of other material which has a relatively stronger residual magnetism than the usual soft iron used for field poles.

Assume now that the generators 1 and 2 and the car wheel 4 are rotating in a clockwise direction, as indicated by the solid, direction of rotation indicating arrows. polarities of the generators 1 and 2 are, as indicated by the solid polarity markers, applied to these generators, and that the direction of current through the field windings 5 and 6 is in the direction of thesolid arrows associated. therewith. If now the direction of rotation of the generators is reversed the following action takes place. Each generator will try to reverse the residual magnetism of the other generator because of the polarity reversal of each generator due to the reversal of rotation. However, as the re-' sidual magnetism of the generator 2 is stronger than that of generator 1 the reverse polarity voltage induced in generator 2 will actually reverse the residual magnetism. of generator 1 before the latter can reverse the residual magnetism of the generator 2. As soon as the residual magnetism of generator 1 reverses its polarity will build up in the same direction as it originally had due to the combined effect of reversal rotation' and reversal of field. As soon as this takes place the energization of the field winding 6 of generator 2 will be in the same direction as originally, as is shown by the dotted arrow, and consequently generate. 2 will build up with its polarity reversed due to the fact that only the direction of rotation has been reversed. This is indicated by the dotted polarity indication associated with generator 2. The dotted arrow associated with field winding 5 of generator 1 shows the reversal of field energization of generator 1 when the rotation of the generator is in the reverse direction indicated by the dotted direction of rotation indicating arrow associated therewith.

If constant polarity is not important, and all that is necessary is that generator 1 buildup when its roation is reversed, it is not necessary to insure that generator 2 has a stronger residual magnetism than generator 1. With any two generators one will always have a stronger residual magnetism than the other and consequently where any two generators are connected, as shown in Fig. 1, one of the generators wil always reverse the polarity of the other, and as soon as this takes place the generators will build up as explained above. Furthermore, if polarity is not Assume further that the important either of the generators, or both of the generators, may be used to supply any suitable load devices with current.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 generators 1 and 2 may be arranged to be operated in a magnetically saturated, or unsaturated, condition during normal operation. A magnetically saturated. generator 1 and unsaturated oxciter 2 is preferable. The purpose of saturation is to produce a certain degree of voltage regulation with changes in speed because with saturation of one machine the-increase in voltage of its exciting machine whether saturated or not, will not react 'on the saturated machine through an increase in fiux." Consequently the voltage changes will be those due to speed alone. A differential series fleldwindingBis provided on exciter 2 so that as the voltageof generator 1 increases and its current outp'ut increases the increased energization of thefield winding 8 will act to demagnetize the exciter 2 and consequently reduce its voltage. This, in turn, will reduce the voltage of generator 1. A motor 9 is'connected tot-be energized by generator 1 throiigh'circuit '7 and this motor may operate any suitable load device, such as a fan 10, for. example. Motor 9 is provided with a shunt winding 11 and a relatively heavy cumulative compound winding 12 for giving poor speed regulation with changes in load.

In the operation of th'e arrang nent of Fig. 2 the build up and polarity action will be the same as in Fig.1, so that regardless of the direction of rotation of the generators 1 and 2 these generators will always build up. However, in the arrangement shown in Fig. 2, it is not important that .the polarity of generator 1 be always the same because of the fact that motor 9 is not sensitive to polarity changes. As the speed of the generators 1 and 2'increases the voltage output of generator 1 will increase'and this will tend to increase the current supplied to the motor 9. This increase in current flowing through differential series field winding 8 will tend to demagnetize the exciter 2, thereby reducing its voltage output which will reduce the excitation oi generator 1 thereby reducing its voltage output. At the same time, the increase in speed of the generator 1 causes more power a flow to motor 9 thereby tending to, increase its speed and load. However, as. .the speed and load of motor 9 increase it draws more current through its series winding 12 which increases the flux'of motor 9, thereby tending to limit its increase in speed. It is preferable that motor 9 be unsaturated during normal operation so that the full effect of the series winding 12 will be obtained. With the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 I have been able to obtain a motor speed ratio of 1 to 3 with a generator' speed ratio of 1 to 4.

In connection with the differential series field winding 8 it will readily occur to those skilled in the art that my invention is not limited to the particular connection shown and that this winding may be connected in the usual manner in the armature circuit of exciter 2 rather than in the main load circuit of-the system, if desired. Such a connection is shown in Fig. 3.

While I have shown and described particular embodiments of my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from my invention, and I therefore aim in the appended claim to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit of my invention.

said generator, 9 compound wound direct current motor adapted to have its magnetic circuit unsaturated during its normal operation, and a differential series winding for said exciter, and connections between said generator and said motor including said differential winding.

FRED B. HORNBY. 

